Kung, Odom Awarded American Chemical Society National Awards

Northwestern Engineering’s Harold Kung and Teri Odom have been recognized with 2020 national awards from the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Kung was selected for the George A. Olah Award in Hydrocarbon or Petroleum Chemistry, sponsored by the George A. Olah Award Endowment, which recognizes outstanding research achievements. Odom received the ACS Award in Surface Chemistry, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, which recognizes distinguished service in the advancement of surface chemistry.

Both awardees will earn $5,000 and a certificate, along with travel to an awards ceremony in conjunction the ACS spring national meeting in Philadelphia on March 24, 2020. The ACS National Awards program encourages the advancement of chemistry in all its branches, supports research in chemical science and industry, and promotes the careers of chemists.

Kung is the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering. His research focus is on novel catalytic materials and reactions, which are integral parts of most environmentally friendly, energy- and material-efficient chemical processes. His research also focuses on new materials for efficient energy storage, particularly electrical energy storage, that facilitates large-scale adaptation of renewable energy. Kung is a member of the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, Center for Catalysis and Surface Science, and Center for Water Research. He graduated from Northwestern with a PhD in Chemistry.

Odom is the chair of Northwestern’s Department of Chemistry and the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and (by courtesy) professor of materials science and engineering. Odom is an expert in designing structured nanoscale materials that exhibit extraordinary size and shape-dependent optical properties. She has pioneered a suite of multi-scale nanofabrication tools, as well as invented a class of biological nanoconstructs that facilitate unique insight into nanoparticle-cell interactions and show superior imaging and therapeutic properties. She earned her PhD from Harvard University.